Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-01-08

/
strange enough to strike bold heart with
awe. Beyond the semicircle stood two
children, a boy and girl, holding in their
hands twisted rods of barley sugar about a
yard long each, which they sucked assidu-
ously the whole time of our visit. There
they stood, mute and still as statues, with
dark eyes fixed, now on us, and now on
the extremity of their sugar wands.
My companion commenced operations
by displaying a number of conjuring
tricks, intended to impress all present with
the lofuest opinion of his powers. and
stopped every now and then to make his
dragoman explain that it would prove in
vain to endeavor to deceive a beng en-
doWed with such gifts. To these exposi-
tons the women apparently paid but little
attention but the conjuring feats delighted
them, and again and again they laughed,
until, literally, the head of each dropped
on her neighbours shoulder. After a time
the husband, who, alone, had never ap-
peared the least entertained, interposed,
and asked the conjurer whether he had yet
discovered the guilty party. With
| the utmost GOODNESS, my friend re-
piled. Certainly not; how could
he, when his highness' wives con-
tinued veiled?n This new demand created
new confusion and long debate; thought,
however, that the women seemed rather to
advocate our cause. The husband, the Mol
lab, and the mother again consulted; and
in another moment the wells had dropped,
and the beauty of many an Eastern nation
stood before US revealed.
Four of these unveiled Orientals were, as
we were informed, wives, and six were
slaves. The former were beautiful indeed,
though beautiful in different degrees and
in various styles of beauty; of the latter,
two only. They were, all of them, tall,
slender and dark eyed, Swallowing high
beauty in their airy brows," and uniting q
mystical with luxurious expression, like
that of Slbyls, who had been feasting with
Cleopatra. There was something to me
strange as well as lovely in their aspect-as
strange as their condition. which seems a
halfway state between marriage and widow
hood They see no man except their
husband; and a visit from him lex
cept in the case of the favorite)
is rare and marvellous occurrence,
like an eclipse of the sun. Their
bearing toward each other was that of sis
tiers. In their movements | marked an ex-
traordinary sympathy, which was the more
striking on account of their rapid transit
tons from the extreme of alarm TO child
like wonder, and again TO boundless mirth.
The favorite wife was CiTcassian, and a
fairer vision it would not be easy to see. In
telectual in expression she could hardly be
called, yet she was full of dignity, as well
as of plant grace and sweetness. Her large,
black eyes, beamiDg with a soft and steal
thy radiance, seemed as if they would have
yielded light in the darkness; and the
heavy waves of her hair, which, in the ex-
element of the tumultuous scene, she care
lessly flung over her shoulders, cleaned
like a mirror. Her complexion was the
most exquisite | have ever seen: its
smooth and pearly purity being tinged
with color unlike that of flower or of
fruit, of bud or of berry, but which re-
minded me of the vivid and delicate
tints which sometimes streak the in
side of shell. Though tall, she seemed
as light as if she had been an embodied
cloud, lowering over the rich carpets like
child that does not feel the weight of its
body; and though stately in the intervals
of rest, her mirih was sort of rapture.
She, too, had that peculiar luxuriousness
of aspect, in no degree opposed 10 modesty,
which belongs TO the East around her
lips was wreathed, in their stiffness, an ex-
preston at once pleasurable and pathetic,
which seemed ever ready to break forth
into smile; her hands seemed to leave
with regret whatever they had rested on,
and in parting to leave something be-
hind and in all her soft and wiiching
beauty she reminded me of Browning's
lines
No swan-soft woman, rubbed in lucid oils
The gift of an enamOred god more fair"
As feat succeeded to feat, and enchant-
ment enchantment, all remnant Of re-
serve was disregarded, and no trace
remained of that commingled alarm
and pleased expectation which had
~
ances when they first emerged from their
wells. Those fair women floated around
us, and tossed their hands in the air. wholly
forgetting that their husband was by Sill,
however, we had made but little progress in
our inquiry; and when the magician in
formed them that they had better not try
to conceal anything from him, their only
answer was look that said, You
came here TO give US pleasure, not to
cross question us" Resolved to use
more formidable weapons. he began to
arrange an electrical machine, when the
Mollah, after glancing al it TWO or three
times, approached and asked him whether
that instrument also was supernatural
The quick-witted Frenchman replied at
once: by no means it is a mere scientific
toy" Then, turning to me. he added in a
low voice: He has seen ii befuTe-prob-
ably he has travelled" In few minutes
the women were ranged in ring, linked
hand-in-hand. He then informed them,
through our interpreter, that if a dis
covery was not Immediately made each
person should receive at the same
time a blow from an invisible hand,
and that the second time the adj
monition would be severer and that the
third time, if his warming was still de-
spised, the culprit would drop down dead.
This announcement was heard with much
gravity, but no confession followed it; the
Shock was given, and the lovely circle was
speedily dislinked, with slrieks and
laughter Again the shock was given,
and with the same effect but this time the
laughter was more subdued. Before max
ing his last essay, the magician addressed
them in a long speech, telling them
that he had already discovered
the secret that if the culprit con-
fessed, he would make intercession for her
but that, if she did not, she must take the
consequences. Still no confession was
made For the first time, my confident
friend looked downeast. . 1t will not do"
be said to me- !" the ring cannot be recov-
cred: they know nothing about it; proba-
bly it was lost We cannot fulfill our en-
gagement and. indeed, wish he added,
THAT we were well out of all this"
Iconfess | wished the same, especially
when glanced at the master of the house
hold, who stood apart, gloomy as thun-
der-cloud, and with the look of a man who
thinks himsslf in a decidedly false ps g.
ton. The Easterns do not understand a
lest. especially in barem; and not being
addicted TO irony Chat great safety-valve
for entbusiasml, they pass rapidly from
immortality TO very significant and
sometimes disagreeable action. Speaking
\ ~ IL. l. l.